Unravelling Shane MacGowan's Tipperary Roots

I'm sitting on a giant boulder at Finnoe Cross, between Borrisokane and Carney in north Tipperary.

Carved into the stone are words familiar to generations of Pogues fans: The Broad Majestic Shannon.

It reads: "I sat for a while at the Cross of Finnoe. Where the young lovers would meet when the flowers were in bloom."

Beside me, a group of Dutch musicians who make up the band Riverflow strike up the song and fill the quiet countryside with the sound of one of Shane MacGowan’s most beloved ballads.

There is something surreal about hearing The Broad Majestic Shannon performed in the very landscape that inspired it. And it’s even more surreal that I am part of a 25 person-strong tour travelling by bus through the Barony of Lower Ormond, near the shores of Lough Derg.

This isn’t the starting point for the Unravelling Shane MacGowan tour. The tour has 15 stops through this rural part of Ireland that shaped MacGowan.

MacGowan was born in England but it was north Tipperary, his family, and their native traditions, that found their way into his songs.

Today’s guide is local historian Michael Molamphy, one of the people behind the initiative.

"Between the age of 10 and 20, for Shane, eight of his much-loved grand-aunts, uncles and, indeed, his grandmother passed away," he tells me as our group gathers around Cloughprior Cemetery.

"That’s also the time that he was visiting. He was hearing a lot about funerals and hearing quite a lot about death."

Molampey says this all fed into MacGowan’s lyrics, and he believes many of those influences can be traced directly back to the conversations Shane overheard and experienced in rural Tipperary.

"When you hear something like in The Body of an American: '15 minutes later we had our first taste of whiskey, there was uncles giving lectures on ancient Irish history’ ... I have no doubt where that song came from," he says.

Eager to Discover

MacGowan passed away in 2023. The Unravelling Shane MacGowan Tour was established after his death. As tributes poured in from around the world, local people found themselves fielding questions from visitors eager to discover the places connected to the singer.

"After Shane’s funeral, we were getting requests looking to know where were the places around that they could visit that were connected with Shane," says Molamphy.

"We started mapping them out. We put QR codes at each of the 15 locations telling the story of why that place was relevant and its significance. Out of that came requests for guided tours."

There is a tourism element to Unravelling Shane MacGowan but Molamphy insists the primary aim is to tell a fuller story of MacGowan’s life.

"To keep the legend of Shane alive is important," he says. "But it’s also important to let people know why his formative years in Ireland were so impactful on him."

Our next stop is Johnny Ryan’s pub in Carney, where local singer Caitlin McGrath performs Kitty, Shane’s mother’s favourite song.

As she sings the room falls silent as the tour of 25 Irish, British and Dutch tourists listen.

The pub’s proprietor, Eleanor Maher Ryan, says the tour has already brought a noticeable boost to the area. Ryan’s pub is just up the road from Shane’s mum’s home place, Carney Commons.

"People respect that connection," says Eleanor. "We have 25 people on the tour today who are devoted Shane fans."

"It’s early days and the tour is doing fantastic. It’s good for business, absolutely, but it’s also helping local traders and local businesses," she adds.

Celebrate Shane Through Music

The tour finishes in Nenagh beneath a striking mural of MacGowan. Waiting there is his sister, Siobhan, who encourages visitors not simply to remember Shane but to celebrate him through music.

She wants people coming on this tour to play music if they can.

"Bring a poem if you want to recite it. Bring your whistles, your bodhráns, your guitars, accordions … whatever it is," she says. "Come on the tour and have a musical journey with us. Play for us. Shane would have loved that. It would mean everything to him."

The reaction of those who travelled from overseas is that the tour is worthwhile.

Gerret Lorenzen has come from England with self-made miniature replicas of the instruments pictured on the cover of The Pogues’ album If I Should Fall From Grace with God.

"Anyone who’s heard Shane and The Pogues knows the songs and some of the references," he says. "But when you actually get here, particularly to Finnoe Cross, and realise you’re standing in the place he’s singing about, it’s quite emotional."

The tour runs every second Saturday.

More details: unravellingshane.com